


Shattered

by Pandora151



Series: Broken [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka Tano Needs a Hug, Angst, Chronic Illness, Dark Anakin Skywalker, Force Bond (Star Wars), Gen, Hurt Obi-Wan Kenobi, Major Character Injury, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, The Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:29:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29952063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandora151/pseuds/Pandora151
Summary: In the moments leading up to Ahsoka's trial, everything changes.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Broken [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1141628
Comments: 43
Kudos: 108





	Shattered

**Author's Note:**

> *shows up two years later with Starbucks* sup?
> 
> Hi! So, for those of you who are clicking on this series for the first time, this is the _fourth_ part of the Broken series. I think this fic can actually stand on its own, but I strongly suggest going back and reading the first three parts (they're only 2k words each) to get the full context of what's happening here.
> 
> Oh, and fun fact: I decided on the title of this fic _way_ before the episode titles of TCW S7 were announced, so the fact that this fic shares the same title as one of those episodes is nothing more than a funky coincidence ;)
> 
> With that out of the way, I'll let you get to reading! Enjoy! :)

The Temple was quiet.

Obi-Wan wrapped his arms around himself as he trudged through deserted hallways, mind racing through everything that had just happened.

Ahsoka had been found and brought back to the Temple. And the Council expelled her, as much as Obi-Wan fought desperately against it. But the Council had deemed him too close to Ahsoka to be impartial, and they had cast his opinion aside, as though it meant _nothing_ to them.

He understood that the Council couldn’t exactly turn against the Senate, especially with the amount of evidence that Ahsoka had against her. To turn against the Senate now, in the wake of so much _pressure_ , would mean a devastating loss for the Order.

The ever-increasing public distrust towards the Jedi would skyrocket, and the Order would lose its funding, which would cripple them in the face of the war.

The Republic would then fall, and the Jedi along with it.

Obi-Wan understood that, but he wished there was a way to somehow resolve all of this without casting Ahsoka out of the Order the way they just did—the way _he_ just did.

She _trusted_ him, and in return, he threw that all away. He couldn’t bear to even attend the upcoming trial in the Senate, but as a member of the Jedi Council, he was required to attend.

He couldn’t bear to see Ahsoka stand trial for crimes he knew she did not commit. More than that, he couldn’t bear to see any longer the betrayal she must feel towards him, for casting her out.

It was his fault, and he knew it.

Anakin knew it, too.

Anakin’s anguish echoed easily into the Force, pressing against Obi-Wan’s mental shields with an almost crushing weight. The sheer amount of strength in Anakin’s emotions was staggering. In his exhaustion and soul-crushing numbness, Obi-Wan could barely shield himself.

Obi-Wan shuddered, curling into himself a bit more. The Temple’s corridors weren’t normally this _cold_ —he suspected that with all the traveling he’d been doing over the past few days, his body hadn’t yet adjusted to Coruscant’s temperature.

He’d been in and out of the Temple so frequently that his body lost all concept of a normal circadian rhythm. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept for more than an hour, let alone for a full night.

Obi-Wan had been substituting sleep with brief snatches of meditation, desperately staving off the exhaustion threatening to overwhelm him.

He’d felt so numb for so long that he didn’t know exactly what to expect when true sleep would finally come—and he wasn’t sure that he _wanted_ to know.

Obi-Wan shook his head, pulling himself out of his thoughts. He couldn’t allow himself to dwell on all of this for too long. It would send him spiraling into self-pity, and there was simply no time for that.

Shaking his head, he forced himself into a brisk walk, wanting to get back to his quarters and have a few quiet hours to himself. Sleep was impossible, even though Coruscant was well into its night-cycle. Obi-Wan figured he could meditate and then start preparing for himself for the trying days ahead.

He suspected that Ahsoka’s trial in the Senate would not end well, and a part of him couldn’t bear the thought.

As he approached his quarters, Obi-Wan allowed his shoulders to slump. The Force was slow and sluggish in his mind, something that became more and more frequent as the war progressed, as more and more darkness seeped into the Force.

That would probably explain why he wasn’t able to sense Anakin’s presence within his quarters until he actually walked in and closed the door behind him.

“Obi-Wan.”

He spun around at the sound of Anakin’s voice, furious and quiet.

Anakin was sitting on the couch, mech hand clenched into a fist around what appeared to be Ahsoka’s padawan beads.

Obi-Wan’s heart sank at the coldness set in Anakin’s eyes.

“Anakin,” he replied. “I—”

“What have you done?” Anakin asked, pulling himself up to his feet and walking over to Obi-Wan. As he approached, Obi-Wan noticed that Anakin was shaking, that the shudders wracking his frame weren’t from coldness or uncertainty…but from rage.

Anakin was unbalanced, and the Force itself seemed to shudder and cry from that fury.

“How could you let the Council _expel_ her, Obi-Wan?” Anakin roared, and he moved closer to Obi-Wan, towering over him.

Obi-Wan took a slow step back, but Anakin followed him. Obi-Wan continued to move back, suddenly feeling a desperate need for space. He felt oddly claustrophobic, as though the walls of the common area around him were caving in, leaving him trapped and helpless.

Obi-Wan swallowed, resisting the urge to shiver. He felt even colder now, and his lungs seemed to struggle against the coldness—whether it was because of the temperature of the apartment or how the Force seemed to stutter oddly within him, it was difficult to tell.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan murmured, bowing his head. The room blurred, and he blinked. “The Council was not unanimous. I did what I could, but—”

“ _No_ ,” Anakin replied, and Obi-Wan tried to take another step back, only to find himself pressed against the wall, Anakin leaning over him with eyes that burned with fury. “You _didn’t_.”

_Breathe_. Obi-Wan managed to take in a breath, with lungs that barely seemed to cooperate. The temperature of the room continued to drop and drop, and his chest was aching for some strange reason.

“If you truly cared about her, Obi-Wan, you wouldn’t have let that happen!” Anakin roared, slamming his mech hand onto the wall next to Obi-Wan’s head.

Obi-Wan inhaled slowly.

“There…” He shivered, wanting to sink into the floor, away from this conversation, away from _all_ of this. “There was too much evidence against her, Anakin. And the Senate…” He swallowed, throat constricting painfully.

_What is happening to me?_

His legs felt oddly numb now, his heart pounding and racing oddly in his chest. The cold sweat forming on his brow felt oddly foreign, unfamiliar.

Through his rapidly blurring vision, he saw Anakin’s eyes widen as the Force cried out in terrible pain. Obi-Wan gasped at the sensation, bowing his head slightly.

“You believed the evidence,” Anakin murmured, the sudden quietness in his voice sending more ice into Obi-Wan’s veins. “You’ve fought beside her for _years_ , Obi-Wan! She’s saved my life _and_ your life more times than I can count.”

Through the tightness in his throat, Obi-Wan swallowed, looking back up at Anakin. The odd pain gnawing in his chest was getting more and more difficult to ignore, and he could barely understand where it was coming from.

“Anakin, I…”

His vision blurred, but the fury burning in Anakin’s eyes was clear enough.

“This is all your fault,” Anakin whispered, and he took a step back, shaking his head. “I _hate_ you.”

Within the Force, Obi-Wan felt something like a clap of thunder, and through his blurring vision, he watched Anakin stalk away.

Like a puppet, Obi-Wan fell to the ground.

And then the darkness descended, crashing over his mind like a tidal wave.

* * *

Obi-Wan was late.

Usually, he was _never_ late.

“Something must be wrong,” Master Plo repeated, looking at Mace with a tilted head. “This is not like him, and considering the nature of this trial, I know Obi-Wan would want to attend.”

Most of the Jedi Council were gathered outside of the Council Chambers, ready to walk over to the main hangar to depart for the trial. Tarkin had previously expressed that the Council was not explicitly required to attend, but Mace knew there was little choice.

They needed to be there.

Something like this—with the Jedi Temple hangar explosion, Tano’s expulsion, and the war—would not put the Jedi Order in a good position. The Senate was stunned by the truth, and frankly, Mace understood that.

All of this made little sense.

He’d seen Jedi fall to the Dark Side before, but Mace never thought Tano would join their ranks. As a youngling, she had been bright—brash and quick, but with an achingly familiar sense of justice. It took Mace some time to remember where he’d seen that exact brand of justice before.

He blinked, letting the image of Qui-Gon Jinn pass through his mind before releasing it to the Force.

_Now is not the time for this_.

Sighing, Mace peered down the corridor, hoping to see Obi-Wan appear.

He didn’t.

“I will stop by his quarters,” Mace said, turning back to Master Plo with a nod. “You all should go ahead without me. Obi-Wan and I will be right behind you.”

_Assuming that I find him_.

A pause, and then Master Plo nodded.

Mace set off at a brisk walk, rushing over to the lift and pressing the button. As he stepped inside and pressed the button leading to the residential area, he stared up at the top of the elevator, frowning.

There had to be a simple explanation for Obi-Wan’s absence. He’d been in and out of the Temple for the past few days; it was likely that he was just sleeping or meditating, or had simply— _somehow_ —forgotten about the trial.

_That doesn’t explain why he’s not answering his comm._

Mace sighed. Obi-Wan was many things, but he was not irresponsible.

Plo was right—something was wrong.

Master Yoda’s words from a few weeks ago echoed in his mind, a foreboding reminder.

_“Broken, Obi-Wan is.”_

The lift shuddered to a stop, and Mace broke into a sprint, his cloak flapping against his legs. He dodged a pair of younglings as he rounded a corner, pumping his arms as he moved to the Councilors’ wing.

Obi-Wan’s door was at the end of the corridor. Mace remembered helping him move in after he joined the Council. It had been a quiet affair, tinged with a hint of sadness for something that should have been joyous.

It shouldn’t have been Mace with Obi-Wan that day; it should have been his lineage—his Master and his Grandmaster, and his former Padawan. But Anakin had been away on a mission, and Obi-Wan—

Well, Obi-Wan had felt as though he had no one else, at the time.

Mace had the sinking feeling that Obi-Wan _still_ felt the same way, except—

Now, everything had changed.

Panting slightly, he stopped in front of the door. Mace rang the buzzer once, twice, three times.

_Nothing_.

“Obi-Wan?” he called, leaning closer to the door. He knocked, loud enough for it to reverberate down the corridor. It was a good thing that the other Councilors were on the way to the Senate and not hearing Mace shout outside of their quarters, because he was sure he was knocking loud enough to disturb the entire corridor.

He was met with silence, along with a sinking feeling in his gut.

“Something is wrong,” Mace murmured. He turned to the locking mechanism and entered an emergency override code, and the door opened with a quiet _click_.

Mace rushed inside, taking in the empty couch and kitchen, the dust gathering on the countertops, and—

The figure crumpled on the floor a few feet away, turned away from him.

“Obi-Wan,” he whispered, and then he was running over, crouching down next to his friend. He placed a hand on Obi-Wan’s shoulder and shook it gently, wincing at the feverish heat emanating through his robes.

Nothing. No response.

“Obi-Wan,” he repeated, voice louder. With his free hand, he sent an emergency signal to the Healers. “Obi-Wan, it’s Mace. Do you hear me?”

The Force felt so quiet and empty around his presence—as though it had broken and folded in on itself, floating somewhere far away. There was life, and Mace could see him breathing, but…

“Oh, no,” Mace whispered, sinking back slightly. He scrubbed a hand over his face, chest heaving.

Within minutes, the Healers arrived, and Mace watched, stunned, as they took Obi-Wan away on a stretcher, with the sort of urgency that made worry crawl up Mace’s chest into his throat.

“Something is wrong,” he repeated, into the stillness.

* * *

Everything happened so quickly.

Ahsoka remembered standing at the trial, listening numbly as Senator Amidala struggled to defend her, but it was obvious that she’d been set up.

None of this was her fault, and yet—

She was being framed. Anakin was nowhere to be found, Obi-Wan was nowhere to be found, and now…

Ahsoka was going to be convicted for a crime she did not commit.

Or so she thought.

Anakin arrived at the last possible second, seething with the sort of anger she’d only seen from him a handful of times, Barriss Offee in tow. At the realization that her friend had framed her, Ahsoka went numb with shock.

She couldn’t _believe_ it. Barriss was one of the first friends she’d made as a Padawan, and now…everything was so different.

Ahsoka was so shaken by all of it that she didn’t notice that Anakin was walking her out of the Senate building, away from the Jedi Councilors who bothered to appear, away from the Senators, just… _away_.

“Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka looked up. They were standing next to an unfamiliar-looking speeder, and Anakin was staring down at her with a strange brightness in his eyes.

“Thank you, Anakin,” she whispered, hoarsely. “I really, really appreciate it.”

Anakin smiled back at her, but something about it looked _off._ Different. Ahsoka couldn’t quite figure out what it was; it was kind of just nagging at her, reminding her that something _still_ wasn’t right.

A loud sigh, and Anakin leaned back against the speeder, smirking. “Listen, Snips, the Council’s gonna try to get you to come back, but you know they’ve wronged you. You don’t deserve them,” he said emphatically.

Confused, Ahsoka tilted her head. “Anakin?”

“All I’m just saying is that I’m done,” Anakin continued, crossing his arms over his chest. “So why don’t we just go off-planet somewhere, away from this mess? The Jedi don’t deserve us, Ahsoka. We deserve better than _them_.” He spat out the last word, features twisting slightly.

“Wait, but what about—”

Heavy footsteps, and then Master Plo was approaching them, urgently. Ahsoka felt her shoulders straighten, almost out of instinct, but at the corner of her eye, she saw Anakin sigh and roll his eyes.

“What do you want?” Anakin demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

“There is an emergency,” Master Plo announced, and if Ahsoka didn’t know him really, really well, she wouldn’t have detected the undercurrent of worry in his voice.

“Master Plo?” she asked.

“I know we have much to discuss, Little Soka, with where you stand with the Jedi and everything that has just happened.” Plo shook his head. “But right now, you are both needed at the Temple. Master Kenobi is…”

Ahsoka blinked, thinking back to the trial, to the empty seats in the atrium where the Councilors sat, and she felt her stomach twist.

“I don’t care,” Anakin spat. “I’m _done_.”

And then he was climbing into the speeder, quickly turning on the ignition. Ahsoka watched with wide eyes, and then she turned back to Plo.

“Anakin,” Plo said, very quietly and very gently. “This is an emergency. Something is _wrong_ —”

“Well, it’s not my problem. I’m done with the Jedi, with the Order, _all_ of it. So I don’t care about anything you have to say to me.” Anakin cut him off, turning to Ahsoka. “Now, Ahsoka, are you coming with me, or not?”

The Force shuddered, quietly, sending shivers down her spine.

“What happened?” she croaked, looking between the two of them, as though there was something obvious that she was missing. “Why…”

Anakin’s frown deepened, and his anger spilled into the Force, almost painfully. “After all of this, you choose _them_?” he asked, voice shaking. “Don’t you understand what they just _did_ to you, Ahsoka? What they—”

“Do you not hear what Master Plo just said?” Ahsoka exclaimed, gesturing towards the Kel Dor Master. “Something is wrong with Master Kenobi—your _own_ Master! Why are you saying this, Anakin?”

Anakin’s eyes flashed, and then he relaxed into his seat.

“Well, if that’s how you’re gonna be, Ahsoka, then I guess this is it,” he spat out, venomously. And then, before Ahsoka could stop him, he was flying away, into the Coruscant night.

Stunned, Ahsoka stared at his speeder as it grew smaller and smaller, frozen to the spot.

“Come, Ahsoka,” Plo said, breaking her out of her stupor. “We must hurry.”

Ahsoka nodded, and then she was following Plo to his own speeder to head home, too numb to speak.

* * *

Everything happened even more quickly after that.

It only took a few minutes for Plo to bring her back to the Temple, going through Coruscant’s evening traffic with a speed that nearly rivaled Anakin’s. Ahsoka would have been impressed if she didn’t feel so numb.

As soon as Plo landed the speeder in the hangar connected directly to the Halls, they began walking. The hangar was empty, as were the Halls’ corridors—except for the Healers and medical technicians. If Ahsoka hadn’t been returning from her own trial to see Obi-Wan under _these_ circumstances, she would have thought that this was a normal day.

Except this was _far_ from a normal day.

At one point, Plo stopped randomly, in the middle of the corridor. Ahsoka stopped next to him, looking up at him.

“Master Plo?” she asked, voice hoarse.

“I have to ask you a few questions,” he said, turning towards her slowly.

“Okay,” she replied, immediately.

A pause, and then Master Plo was walking again, to the end of the corridor. He stopped by a window, leaning forward to stare out at Coruscant’s traffic. Ahsoka stood behind him, a few feet away, unable to move.

She didn’t know where she stood now—with the Order, the Jedi, with _any_ of it. And with Anakin blatantly refusing to be there for Obi-Wan now…

Well, she had little choice. She stood by Obi-Wan before, when Maul resurfaced, and now…

She would do it again. Of _course_ she would.

“Did you know if Skywalker had a Force bond with Obi-Wan after he was Knighted?” Plo asked finally, still staring out the window.

“They did have a bond,” Ahsoka replied, immediately. She was aware of the bond; it lived somewhere on the periphery of the bond she shared with Anakin—or, at least, it used to.

Because when she reached into the Force now, towards Anakin, all she felt was…nothing. An empty coldness, if anything.

In response, Plo sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face.

“Given Skywalker’s response to what has just happened, I have to assume that he broke the bond,” he said, voice quiet. “Typically, bonds are meant to be severed by the Healers. The mind can withstand the damage sometimes, but…not twice.”

Something cold rushed into Ahsoka’s senses, and she shivered.

“ _Twice_?” Ahsoka echoed.

Master Plo paused, turning back to look out the window, which was answer enough.

A Jedi typically only forms bonds with their Master and their Padawans. Anakin is Obi-Wan’s only Padawan, and Ahsoka knew the story of what happened to Obi-Wan’s Master, which implied that—

“The mind healers were able to help him the first time,” Plo answered, somehow knowing exactly what Ahsoka was thinking about. “But now…it’s as though Skywalker had torn the bond _out_ of Obi-Wan’s mind, and all that remains now is just a large, bleeding hole.”

Ahsoka shuddered. Just the thought of that kind of wound—that kind of _damage_ —in her mind was enough to make her feel sick.

“But what about—I don’t think my bond is broken, Master Plo,” Ahsoka whispered. “I can’t really sense Anakin, but…I feel fine.”

Plo turned towards her then, brows furrowed. “He must not have realized it yet. You need to allow the Healers to sever the bond for you, and then—”

“And then what?” Ahsoka asked, tilting her head. “The Council has expelled me, and even though I have returned to this Temple to help my Grandmaster, I still don’t belong here. Master Skywalker is gone. Where does that put me?”

A quiet sigh, and then Plo’s shoulders slumped.

“I’m so sorry, Little Soka,” he murmured. “Obi-Wan and I—we tried so much to fight for you. But it wasn’t enough, and we have all done you wrong.”

Closing her eyes, Ahsoka let out a quiet, shuddering breath.

“Can I—can I see him now?” she asked.

“Of course, Ahsoka.”

* * *

As night descended, Obi-Wan woke up. He found himself staring up at the ceiling, focusing on his breaths and thinking about what he remembered about what had happened, earlier.

Everything felt— _raw_.

There was a strange emptiness in his mind, a gaping hole that ached and throbbed incessantly, a constant reminder of what he had done.

He failed Anakin and Ahsoka, and now—

Anakin had left, tearing the bond out of Obi-Wan’s mind, leaving him broken in his wake. He could feel it so clearly. And the Force was…

Well, it was difficult for him to reach it now.

“Master?”

Slowly, Obi-Wan turned his head. Ahsoka sat on the chair next to the bed, holding out a cup with a plastic straw.

“Master Che said that you needed to drink something when you wake up. She said that you’re extremely dehydrated,” she explained, pushing the cup closer, almost nervously.

Closing his eyes, Obi-Wan sank back into the pillow and shook his head. Nausea curled deep in his gut, even more than when he was last awake. He couldn’t even think about drinking water, let alone eating.

“Can’t,” he rasped, voice scratching horribly in his throat. In response, his throat seized painfully, causing Obi-Wan to let out a series of painful coughs. He curled into himself, chest throbbing and eyes watering.

“Can’t… _breathe_.”

There was a hand on his shoulder, and a voice telling him to breathe. Obi-Wan’s vision blurred with the tears, his mind burning with unfamiliar agony as he trembled violently on the cot.

In the distance, he felt the Force, so far away, so _distant_.

“Master, you need to breathe.” Ahsoka’s voice was louder now, coming from directly next to him. Obi-Wan felt her hand gripping tightly onto his shoulder, and through clenched teeth, he sucked in a breath.

Then, he exhaled.

A few moments passed, with Obi-Wan continuing to struggle for air, but slowly regaining control. Obi-Wan found himself staring up at the ceiling again, shaking as he continued breathing, lungs aching.

At some point, Ahsoka sighed, and she sat down, pressing a hand to her skull.

“Anakin tore the bond out of your mind,” she said finally, voice quiet. “The Healers decided to sever my bond with him before he could do the same thing to me, so…” Ahsoka let out a breath and shrugged, leaning back in her chair.

Obi-Wan blinked. “Your—trial,” he rasped.

Ahsoka’s eyes watered, and then she sniffed, dragging the back of her hand across her eyes.

“It was Barriss,” she said softly. “She set me up. Anakin figured it out and brought her to the trial, and then she confessed. Then, he took me away and told me—”

Shaking her head, Ahsoka sat up more properly, leaning forward to look directly at Obi-Wan.

“He was saying all this stuff about how…how the Council wronged me and that we should just _leave_ , but it felt all wrong. Master Plo found us and told us that something happened to you, and Anakin—”

Obi-Wan closed his eyes, taking in a ragged breath.

“And at the time, when Master Plo first told me that you were here, I didn’t think that it was _because_ of Anakin, but…it is, Master Kenobi,” Ahsoka continued, voice trembling. “Anakin did this _to_ you.”

It was true; yet, a part of Obi-Wan grieved.

Where did everything go so wrong? Was it at the very beginning, when he first promised Master Qui-Gon that he would train Anakin, or even before that, for allowing Qui-Gon to die in the first place?

Surely, Qui-Gon would have been able to prevent this. Then maybe Anakin wouldn’t have done something like this, and…

“I’m sorry,” Ahsoka whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Obi-Wan lifted a hand, reaching for Ahsoka’s hand and holding onto it. In response, she sniffled, scrubbing her free hand across her eyes.

“Not your—fault,” Obi-Wan rasped. “ _Mine_.” He coughed, curling up and wincing as his chest throbbed at the lack of air.

“Don’t say that,” Ahsoka replied. Through his blurred vision, Obi-Wan saw her shaking her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “It’s my fault, too. I felt as though something wasn’t right, and I never said anything, because I thought it was just my imagination.”

“Ahsoka,” Obi-Wan said, trying to protest.

“And I thought—I just thought that maybe it would go away, you know?” Ahsoka let out a laugh, voice trembling slightly. “And now you’re—”

She cut herself off, almost harshly, before shaking her head and scrubbing at her eyes.

“I’m—what?” Obi-Wan croaked, tilting his head.

No response. Ahsoka pulled her hand out of his grasp and leaned back, covering her eyes with both hands.

“Ahsoka,” he managed, clearing his throat with a wince.

“I’m supposed to wait for the Mind Healers,” she said, voice muffled. Pulling her hands away from her face, Ahsoka shook her head. “It’s…I don’t even know how to explain it, and it’s—”

She shook her head again, and Obi-Wan found his mind wandering, reaching all of the worst possibilities.

Something was wrong, clearly. Whatever had happened with Anakin had some lasting repercussions on Obi-Wan’s mind, and Ahsoka knew something about it.

“Tell me,” Obi-Wan insisted, voice cracking. “ _Tell_ —” He coughed, into his elbow, and Ahsoka’s features softened.

“Okay, okay; just breathe first,” Ahsoka said, leaning forward again to place a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll tell you what I know.”

Shuddering, Obi-Wan let out a gust of air, and then he inhaled. Once his breaths were controlled again, Obi-Wan sank back slightly, letting his shoulders relax into his pillows.

Ahsoka nodded and began to speak, voice quiet.

“I’m going to stay,” she began, tentatively. “They’re saying that we have a Force bond, Master Kenobi, and that was what kept you alive, after it happened. And I _want_ to stay, because I want to make things right with everything that’s happened.”

Ahsoka bit her lip, staring up at the ceiling, and then she looked down again, unable to meet his eyes. Obi-Wan had the impression that what she was about to say right now was going to change everything, and a part of him wanted to stop her from saying it out loud.

But he also needed to hear the truth.

A pause, then Ahsoka continued speaking.

“The Mind Healers were saying that they couldn’t heal everything, and you’ll need constant monitoring and support from them for now.” Ahsoka swallowed harshly, looking up at the ceiling. “There is permanent damage, Master, and they’re saying that your ability to use the Force has diminished significantly. They don’t know if you’ll ever be the same again.”

Silence echoed between them, potent and desperate. Obi-Wan found himself staring at his Grandpadawan, waiting for her to say more.

But Ahsoka had nothing more to say.

Slowly, Obi-Wan exhaled. Then, he lifted his hands up to his skull and leaned forward, placing his forehead onto his knees. There was the feeling of something sliding down his face, into his beard and soaking the material of his pants.

In the quietness of the room, his breathing grew louder as his shoulders trembled, as more tears slipped out of his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Ahsoka whispered, voice trembling. “I’m so sorry.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I didn't anticipate this series becoming as developed as it did, but. here we are. There will be a fifth part, and I really hope it doesn't take me over two years to write and post it, because I'm so excited about this AU. And now we're actually at the AU part of this, so. _yeah_.
> 
> Anyways, thanks again for reading, and please leave a comment on your way out! :)


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